How do I in-teach my jumper to not refuse?

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DonskiWA

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My 15yo eventer WAS a solid jumper. Never refused anything. Now we are refusing show jumps with fill and any XC that he doesn't like the look of.

It's only happened over the pace of a few months. I believe it is because I put him in a universal bit for too long. It worked brilliantly but he hated it. I SHOULD have worn it for just 2 or 3 rides, then gone back to the snaffle. We gradually lost our forward then started refusing.

We are back in our snaffle and certainly have our forward back, but the refusing remains.

How would I go about correcting this? I'm not very experienced with refusing.
 
Oh and do I have a great instructor, but he is so used to her all jumps, that we never refuse there, so I don't get to practice refusals with her.

D'oh, title was meant to read 'un-teach'.
 
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A reliable jumper that starts to refuse I just wonder instead if there is anything physical going on

Otherwise reduce the height to help get them and your confidence and ensure that the horse is truly in front of your leg and ensure that you are looking up and where you heading to and not at the fence you are about to jump

Your instructor can easily change a jump to make it look different even just putting their jacket over a pole etc...
 
Can you take your instructor with you to other venues? Most places will hire their arena and jumps for schooling. Its best not to try to correct this at a show because after 3 refusals you get eliminated and all you teach the horse is that the ideal way to get out of having to do any work at a show is to refuse 3 times. That's nearly impossible to correct because you can't simply keep going in a show environment.

Like Jnhuk I would strongly suggest doing the tack / tack / back etc checks. The fact he sounds like he has been curled up behind the stronger bit he might have strained himself or an old injury made worse. You also don't say what prompted you to try a stronger bit which might also be part of the picture.

I might also be tempted to turn him away for a few weeks. He might have got sour. Depends on what you have been doing with him and how long it is since his last complete break. Turning away will also help if there is just some low grade muscle strain there.

Then as above - low fences. Lots of confidence giving rounds. Don't compete for a bit. Make it fun for him.
 
If you had a stronger bit in, unless your hands are exceptionally good you might have made him lose confidence, if you maybe caught him in the mouth. I would go back to basics and start small to let him learn it isn't going to happen again - lots of kind fun practise over smaller jumps to get him enjoying it again.
 
At 15 I would be getting him a full work up, it is likely the bit thing is just circumstantial and that with his age something is starting to hurt/make things feel more difficult.
 
Thanks for all that. Yep he's had the full monty of checkups and body workers and saddle fits etc. $1000 later and he was given the all clear.
I had gone to the universal as he was that bit too strong in the XC for my liking. I left it in too long and it got to the point where he wouldn't he wouldn't go forward and I had to pour him over every jump. I'm kicking myself for not picking up on the issue sooner.
Now I believe the problem is rectified, but the habit remains. Lots of good advice here, thanks.
 
Bone scanned? Does he have any joints injected routinely anyway? (Asking this mostly because you are talking in $). I just think that if this horse has been a solid jumper for the last X years of his life at 15 either something has happened to really knock his confidence or he is t physically capable of what you are asking anymore - and there may be something that you just haven't found yet. Eyesight ok?
 
Hmm eye sight was the one thing left to consider. He's been xrayed - spine and legs. He has one small hock spur we are injecting.
He was diagnosed with Cushings around the same time he was in the universal bit. He's now medicated and seems better than ever in every way except the refusing.
It is only jumps with fill, which he's never had a problem with before. I did wonder about eyes.
 
Def check eyes.
Also cushings could be quite significant, there are probably a lot of symptoms associated with it that we don't really see/identify.
I would step him down and make everything super easy for him for a bit and then reassess.
 
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